The present invention relates to a lamination transfer object producing apparatus and method in which a specific material layer is transferred to a transfer target object under heat and pressure, and particularly to a lamination transfer object producing apparatus and method in which a transfer underlayer is placed between the specific material layer and the transfer target object to control an adhesive force therebetween.
A metal foil is used to fabricate an electromagnetic circuitry such as an antenna on a shoplift protecting radio tag or conferring glossiness on a label or seal affixed to a vessel, paper, or the like. The metal foil is adhered to a transfer target material such as the radio tag, label, and seal by sticking or hot stamping. In hot stamping, the metal foil is hot-pressed on the transfer target object with a transfer underlayer by means of a metal die.
Conventional hot stamping will be described with reference to FIG. 19. This hot stamping is performed by using a press table for receiving a stack of a transfer target object and a transfer film, and a hot metal die for pressing the transfer film onto the transfer target object. The transfer film is formed of a metal foil and a base film which supports the metal foil, and the transfer target object is covered with a transfer underlayer of good adhesiveness to the metal foil. The metal foil on the base film is adhered to the transfer target object by heat and pressure applied by the metal die. This adhesive force is stronger than that to the base film. The metal foil is separated from the base film and retained on the transfer target object when the transfer film is removed after the metal die. In this way, a lamination transfer object is formed of the metal foil and the transfer target object.
In the hot stamping, the transfer target object is generally coat paper which is coated with resin to form the adhesive transfer underlayer. In the case where the transfer target object is a resin sheet, a surface treatment is given on the surface of the sheet to attain adhesiveness with the specific material layer.
The Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 8-336947 discloses a transport apparatus has been contrived to correct a positional displacement between the metal die and the transfer target object. The Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 6-122184 discloses a technique of producing a lamination transfer object without using a process of hot stamping. In this technique, an intermediate transfer medium is used transfer to eliminate a positional displacement. In both cases, positional displacement cannot be fully eliminated. In addition, there is a patterning process performed to attain a lamination transfer object with a high precision pattern. In this process, a specific material layer made of a metal foil is patterned in advance on a transfer film, for example, by etching.
As mentioned above, in hot stamping with a die, there are problems on apparatus and running costs. Besides, a problem of a floor space arises as in the case of a press machine and learning of a technique is also required. Furthermore, an etching process has similar problems.